Green Beans vs. String Beans – What’s The Difference?

String beans or green beans? Have you ever thought about the kind of beans you are holding? And here, the question arises what the difference between these two is? If this makes you wonder, this article has been written for you.

The most popular beans used across the globe are green beans. They are easier to grow, tasty and high in nutrients. First, we need to know that snap beans, green beans, and string beans belong to the same family.

Many different countries have different names; for example, in the Philippines, they are known as Baguio beans. Farmers often cultivate them along with other vegetables. Moreover, they also go by the name of snap beans because of their property to break quickly when you bend them.

Green beans primarily belong from the legume family, and it might surprise you that they are young fruits of the common bean. Yes, you heard it right; green beans are fruit! They belong to the family Fabaceae and Phaseolus.

There are at least one thirty various green beans type. One of those types is called green snap bean and green string bean. These are the most popular beans and are commonly used in cooking. So, keep on reading this article to learn about the difference between these two beans.

Green Snap Beans

As already mentioned above, they belong to the plant family Phaseolus. For a bean to be called a green bean, it first must have the color green. These are the most common ones, and this plant also produces other beans which vary in color.

As the word suggests, snap beans are known as snap beans because they make a cracking sound when you bend them. Snap beans are comparatively wider and flat; they are also longer than string beans. And these beans also go by the name of Italian flat beans because they are shorter and wider. Green beans are usually used as vegetables, and they are known to be quite nutritious.

The outer part of green beans is considered unripe, and the beans inside are mostly eaten. They are high in vitamins like A B, C and K. Green snap beans also provide you with a good source of potassium, iron and calcium. Thus, also being high in minerals. Now let us jump to the next type of bean called string beans.

Nutritional Facts

In a serving of 100 grams of Snap Beans:

• 31 KCAL Total Calories
• 1 g Total Fat
• 0 g Saturated fat
• 0 mg Cholesterol
• 6 mg Sodium
• 209 mg Potassium
• 7 g Carbohydrate
• 4 Dietary fiber
• 8 g Protein

Along with basic nutrients green snap beans also contains micronutrients such as vitamin C, iron, vitamin B6, magnesium, Cobalamin and calcium.

Health Benefits

Green snap beans greatly help improve your heart health as they lower your LDL cholesterol. These beans also help improve your digestive health, so if you are a person who has digestive problems, especially bowel syndrome, then you must consider having them.

Snap beans have a decent amount of vitamins like A-C and K, which helps control diabetes and obesity. They are also a good source of carbohydrates and provide you with increased energy. Studies have also shown that these beans have increased the production of feel-good chemicals such as dopamine in your brain, which helps during the depression. These beans also help maintain healthy blood pressure.

String Beans

As already mentioned above, string beans also belong to the same family of the plant Phaseolus Vulgaris. They were named string beans because they had a string running across the entire pod. But in today’s market, they do not have strings.

The name string beans have become outdated because they do not come with strings anymore. Ages of breeding have also led to green string beans being produced in purple color. However, the color purple disappears when you cook them.

These beans are also high in nutrition and minerals, making them essential for many people’s diets. They are also really easy to be planted, and it would be a great thing to add them to your garden and you can easily enjoy the benefits of string beans by steaming, boiling or frying them. Pickle green beans are also available, which go well with some meat. They can also be fried in batter to enjoy a string bean Tempura.

Nutritional Facts

In a serving of 100 grams string beans, the nutritional properties include as:

• 31 Kcal Total Calories
• 1 g Total Fat
• 0 g Saturated Fat
• 0 mg Cholesterol
• 6 mg Sodium
• 209 mg Potassium
• 7 g Total Carbohydrate
• 4 g Dietary fiber
• 8 g Protein

Health Benefits

String beans greatly help improve your heart health by lowering your LDL cholesterol. These beans also help improve your digestive health, so if you are a person who has digestive problems, especially bowel syndrome, then you must consider having them.

Pregnant women should also consider having green string beans, as studies have shown that they reduce the risk of some congenital disabilities. Moreover, decent amounts of calcium and vitamin K aids in maintaining healthier bones.

Chlorophyll present in green string beans aids in slowing the growth of cancer tumors, thus significantly reducing cancer risk. A decent amount of iron present in these beans helps prevents anemia. Anemia is a disease that comes as a result of insufficient iron intake, which leads to weakness and fatigue.

So, What’s The Difference Between Snap Beans and String Beans?

The first thing to be kept in mind is that be it string bean or snap bean, and both belong to the same plant family. Now, moving on towards the differences between the both:

1. String beans are given this name because they used to have a string flowing across the length of the bean, while snap beans make a cracking sound when bent or broken, so given this name.
2. String bean also comes in purple color, while snap bean only has green. These beans have varying physical properties, like some are more rounded while others are longer.

Sources

• Foodsguy
• Growertoday
• Webmd